De Kock could spoil the party for ‘Kommet’ fans

Pundits have been speculating about the concern the Kommetdieding camp are experiencing regarding distance and altitude in Saturdays grade 1 Horse Chestnut Stakes at Turffontein. Their major worry should rather be their chief rival  Mike de Kock.

De Kock and Turffontein go together like Frank Sinatra and Las Vegas. Some of his greatest wins have come at the city track.

There’s no question we should applaud the decision by Harold Crawford and his daughter Michelle Rix to raid the highveld with the best horse in the land. The usual route for Met winners is the KwaZulu-Natal champions season.

The decision by the Durban July and Cape Met winner to target the Horse Chestnut Stakes and Champions Challenge was revealed in Business Day in early February. Understandably, it was great news for highveld racing fans.

Kommetdieding has been stabled at Roy Magner’s Randjesfontein yard for five weeks and reportedly settled in well to his new surroundings. His big race pilot, Gavin Lerena, will have partnered the four-year-old in recent workouts.

Obviously, after his defeat of Jet Dark in the Met, the son of Elusive Fort was installed as a short-priced favourite for the Horse Chestnut Stakes and most scribes expect the four-year-old to add the R625,000 first prize to his bankroll.

This is where the De Kock factor kicks in. Only one horse, his Aussie import Al Muthana, is given a chance of upsetting the Cape raider but his supporters point out he travels to Turffontein in rude health.

The four-year-old has two big plus factors in the 1,600m race — he is arguably the best-bred horse in the country and has built up a great association with S’manga Khumalo. He is bidding for his fifth win on the import.

Al Muthana’s sire Deep Field is one of the fastest horses to enter stud in recent memory. He set a track record over 1,100m at Canterbury, stopping the clock in 63,01sec. He won his first five races by a combined margin of 24 lengths.

The De Kock inmate’s defeat when sent off 5-2 favourite for the Charity Mile in November was a bitter pill to swallow. He looked unbeatable with just 52kg yet was beaten nearly five lengths by Bingwa.

The fact that Bingwa finished three lengths adrift of Dorrie Sham’s charge in the Hawaii Stakes suggests that it has taken Al Muthana time to realise his full potential.

This was confirmed by the many-times champion trainer on Thursday. He said: “He just took time to mature and sound up and loves a wet track.”

This writer believes Al Muthana could come out on top on Saturday with MK’s Pride (Muzi Yeni) and Bingwa (Raymond Danielson) selected for the minor placings.

De Kock has a shot of taking the SA Derby as his runner Aragosta is out of a Galileo mare so likely to stay the 2,450m trip. The Rafeef gelding was decisively beaten by Red Saxon in the SA Classic but there is an extra 650m to travel this time.

Litigation has done his connections proud this year and he gives Sean Tarry a chance of landing the Oaks-Derby double. The colt’s Derby Trial win suggested he won’t run out of gas where it matters.

Zeus and Tabebuia could be the jokers in the pack. The former was heavily backed for the SA Classic and now tries a longer trip, while the latter ran second in the Trial but is now 3kg worse off with the winner.

Unless the “ghost of 2015” reappears, victory in the third leg of the Triple Crown should go to the odds-on favourite Rain In Holland. Seven years ago, punters couldn’t believe their eyes when Sean Tarry’s filly, Siren’s Call, was beaten in a photo-finish by De Kock’s runner Pine Princess.

This time the Randjesfontein trainer saddles Clafoutis who will relish the Oaks trip. She might follow Rain In Holland home if she has overcome her respiratory problem.

SELECTIONS

1st Race: (7) Shikoku (2) Mayenne (1) High Flyby (8) National Star

2nd Race: (4) Sea Of Galilee (11) Free Wylie (16) Kuznetsov (15) Equestrian Affair

3rd Race: (10) Fight Song (1) Tierra Del Fuego (11) City By The Sea (5) Irish Tractor

4th Race: (4) Winter Stories (1) Bohica (5) True To Life (9) Godswood

5th Race: (4) Gallic Chief (5) Mufasa (2) Master Archie (7) Alulu's Star

6th Race: (2) Al Muthana (1) Kommetdieding (3) MK's Pride (4) Bingwa

7th Race: (1) Rain In Holland (2) Clafoutis (6) Quiet Rebellion (4) Princess Kesh

8th Race: (2) Aragosta (1) Red Saxon (5) Litigation (4) Zeus

9th Race: (3) Nebraas (4) Green Haze (6) Black Thorn (7) Barak

10th Race: (4) Fantastical (1) Juan Carlos (7) Admiral Dooley (5) Invincible Warrior